2017 Joo Koon accident
The Joo Koon rail accident occurred on 15 November 2017. Preliminary Sequence of Events On the morning of 15 November 2017, trainset 089/090 departed Ulu Pandan Depot in the eastbound direction and travelled towards Pasir Ris. While transitioning from the old signalling system to the new one at Jurong East which is mandatory, the connection between the 2 Trapeze CFMS were interrupted. This resulted in the train being "3-car configuration" instead of "6-car configuration", similar to breaking up a train into two pieces. As a protection layer against faults in the above mentioned, Thales has developed and implemented the Non-Communicating Obstruction (NCO) software-protection module. When the NCO is activated, trains are only able to move into the Restricted Manual mode, which is similar to September 2010, and had to slow down according to 18km/h. At 8.18am, the faulty train pulled into Joo Koon Platform 2, to detrain passengers due to “an anomaly in the train signalling system”. The station’s Half-Height Platform Screen Doors had to be manually operated via a switch located at the HeadWall of the Platform (front end of the platform). Once the platform screen doors were opened, Track Circuit Protection (TCP) was applied, which indicates to the new signalling system that the entire Platform 2 of Joo Koon MRT Station was occupied. At 8.19am, another train, 547/548 stopped 10.7m away from the rear of the faulty front train was at Joo Koon Platform 2. This was due to the TCP that was in place for the faulty train at the platform. At 8.20am, after the detrainment of the faulty train, 547/548 started to move forward which is not overseeing the attention of the front train itself. Then, it caused the accident. 36 people were injured. Incident The incident was due to the software glitch for the new signalling system, which is during the considerations of a transition phase. Aftermath The rush hour crowd at Joo Koon was more packed than usual because the train services were suspended on 16 November 2017 west of Joo Koon. In addition, normal train services will run except on Christmas Day and Chinese New Year 1st day, including Friday. As a consequence, further CBTC signalling extensions will not be available until further notice. This comes a day after the software glitch that suffers the accident on Wednesday morning. These stations are Joo Koon, Gul Circle, Sierra, Yosemite and Tuas Plaza. North South Line commuters were also affected as the transition usually takes place at Woodlands/Khatib (on weekdays), Novena/City Hall (on Sundays), and Dhoby Ghaut, City Hall, Raffles Place and Marina South Pier, on Saturdays. In view of that, and the old signalling system is still available, it was reverted back. Commuters travelling to the affected stations are required to disembark at Joo Koon. They were required to walk along International Road, Benoi Road, cross the road at Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim, Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim, Tuas Road, Pioneer Road and Tuas West Drive, to reach the offices in the factory. Some people also travelled on Ofo, Obike and Mobike bicycles. The Health Promotion Board (HPB) encourages walking with the Steps Tracker to clock up with 10000 steps such that it can win attractive prizes worth over $60,000. Those who are going to Tuas Checkpoint have no choice but to rather take bus service 869. There are also rail replacement buses, that usually comes from route 190 that was already re-tendered in 11 November 2017 to Gwendolyn United. Additionally, North East Line is delayed at 6.20pm due to a train fault at Clarke Quay towards Punggol and was disrupted at 6.47pm from HarbourFront to Farrer Park. At the same time, free bus services, bicycle sharing services, walking services, rail replacement services and private hire booking services were present at the situation. Commuters are required to walk along Eu Tong Sen Street, River Valley Road, Clemenceau Avenue, Orchard Road (with a crossing at Oldham Lane), Prinsep Street, Selegie Road, Serangoon Road to get into Farrer Park MRT Station. Early Closure On 21 November 2017, the Land Transport Authority and SMRT said that from 24 November 2017 to 28 February 2018, 17 East West Line stations from Tiong Bahru to Tuas Link, and 2 North South Line stations from Bukit Batok to Bukit Gombak, will close earlier on Fridays & Saturdays (at 11pm) and open later on Saturdays & Sundays (at 8am) to facilitate enhanced maintenance works (with replacement of track circuits at Jurong East and Ulu Pandan Depot, sleeper replacement works west of Boon Lay and JEMP, as well as the re-signalling project). MRT stations will be fully closed on 25 December 2017 (Monday) and 16 February 2018 (Friday) to allow for extended engineering hours. The early closures will take place on 24/25 November 2017, 1/2 December 2017, 24 December 2017 and 15 February 2018. The late openings will take place on 25/26 November 2017, 2/3 December 2017, 26 December 2017 and 17 February 2018. On the Christmas Eve and Chinese New Year's Eve, extended operating hours will be up to 1.30am, free shuttle buses will have extended operating hours and train services will only run from Outram Park to Pasir Ris and Changi Airport. Electrical substations at Buona Vista, Dover, Tuas West, Ulu Pandan and Bukit Gombak will be switched off. Subsequent maintenance works Since the incident, it was announced that sections of NSEWL were to conduct facilitation of maintenance works with stations closing earlier and opening later, starting with the East West Line stretch to mitigate incidents. Punishments The train accident at Joo Koon MRT Station is not due to actions by SMRT. The root cause is due to the software logic issue with the new Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) system that has not been configured to deal with the failure actions especially with the changeovers, and based on less than 50%.